Continuing with the defense theme that has now accounted for the first four of this series of blogs, Jeff Petry checks in at #7 on my list. Petry is our highest rated right shooting right defenseman. Unlike the left side where we have Klefbom, Marincin, Musil, Whitney, Smid, and Peckham as our future and current depth, the current and future depth of the right side and specifically right shooting defensemen is very shallow.
Petry brings a hard shot from the right side, and he could be a guy that plays in every situation if he pans out. Having seen a few brilliant flashes last year in his first call-up with the Oilers, it showed Petry's talent. However he was also wildly inconsistent. He was superb in a few games and not very good or average in others. In particular his play on the PP really tailed off after his initial recall. This is where he should really make hay on the team.
At this point in time Petry looks like a solid second pairing prospect, however in my opinion he has the raw talent to be better than that. He has the skating, shooting, passing, and offensive ability to be better than that. Does he have the defensive ability, strength, hockey IQ, and work ethic to become that top pairing right D that we so desperately need?
Could he at least be passable as a top pairing D? With our team loading up on the forward corps we may not need an elite top pairing D, but we'll still need a couple of guys that can hold their own when playing against the best forwards in the world. While Petry isn't a young pup at least in comparison to the first three defensemen that I've profiled, he has gone the NCAA route which is probably a longer route than if he had gone the CHL and then AHL route.
If he is to become the player that we so desperately need we will need to see a significant leap forward in his development next year. If not then his upside is probably as Tom Gilbert's eventual replacement.
3 comments:
Looks like I'm the only guy reading this stuff.
It's quite sad, actually :)
P.S.
Petry will be a fine second pairing defenseman...the Oilers still need to find two top pairing D.
Naw, you're the only one that wastes his time commenting on it, even sadder actually :)
That is his likely progression. That said most rebuilds have some form of luck to them, a guy that steps up from the shadows and really surprises a lot of people. Chicago has Keith, Pittsburgh has Letang, etc.
The Oilers need to hit the jackpot besides the lottery, lots of candidates to do so, but only time will tell if any of them will be even close to that caliber of a steal whether it comes via the draft, trade, free agency, or waivers.
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